Kindergarten Promotion

I never posted about Ellie's kindergarten promotion. It was a crazy day. Brian was out of town all that week and Hattie had her preschool graduation the same day. So my dad went with Hattie and Ruby to her preschool activities and my mom and I went to Ellie's. Brian's mom was also able to join us there, too. The kindergartners performed several cute songs about moving on and songs that demonstrated some of what they learned this year. They were so cute up there! My favorite song they sang was "First Grade, First Grade" which was to the tune of "New York, New York." I got a little teary thinking how fast this year went and how quickly my kids are getting older! Since their school is so small, all the other grades came to watch the promotion, so Eliza and Libby were able to watch, too. Way to go, Ellie!

Ellie and her fabulous teacher Mrs. Gillam

Summer

Libby keeps on me about updating my blog! She wants me to report what we do each day. :) I won't do that, but I'll share what we've been doing this summer. Eliza has been taking TONS of pictures, so I'll use those!

So her sisters have been fairly cooperative subjects for her photos.

We've been listening to a lot of Pandora (and playing games on Mom's phone--my girls are a little obsessed with the Draw Something game).

 Lots of piano--mostly from Ellie and Libby. They really have come along lately and are having fun with the simplified hymn book.

They've played a little outside, but it's just too darned hot to be out there very long. We did do a slip n slide a few times until the yard looked like it was trashed!

More pictures by Eliza...she loves to use lightroom to edit her pictures and do some fun things with them...

(Ruby fell off a stool, hence the bandage on her chin.)


 

Eliza should open her own beauty shop...she loves to do hair and nails. She did flags on Hattie's fingernails for the 4th of July.

We've made a bunch of these lately to help raise money for Eliza to go to nationals. We call them Peanut Butter Crunchies.

I don't have a picture to go along with it, but Libby has been reading a lot. I think she has finished 10 books this summer already. And she's trying to learn how to do an aerial, so there are lots of cartwheels and handstands and backbends around here.

And I feel like I've been one big nag all summer, getting everyone to do their daily jobs and chores done. :)

Track

This year has been a good one with Eliza and track. She's really improved the past few meets. Her main event is high jump although she has run a few 100s, 200s and 400s. She competed in the state meet a few weeks ago and placed 1st with a new PR of 1.25m. She and Brian will go to regionals in Texas this week, then on to nationals at the end of the month. Go Eliza!

Grandma Trimble

Brian's grandma--Atheen Trimble--passed away this past Sunday. We were able to see her last May when we were up in Utah. Glad we got a picture while we were there. Brian spent many a summer up there, working on their farm. He has many memories working with his grandpa and of his grandma's cooking and very set routines! With this weekend being Eliza's regional track meet, things kind of got thrown for a loop with her funeral. My parents are graciously going to drive Eliza down to the meet while Brian is up in Utah for the funeral, then he'll fly down to the meet. Crazy times! We are happy for his grandma though as now she is reunited her her husband!

Disneyland

For my dad's retirement, he wanted to take all the kids and grandkids to Disneyland. We decided it would be easier to take each family separately. So in May, it was our family's turn. We left on Monday. After we got to our hotel and settled, we went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Rainforest Cafe and then we walked around for a bit before heading back to our hotel. We started out on Tuesday at Disneyland, then went to California Adventure on Wednesday and did a little of both on Thursday. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but some highlights include:
--my dad being called up to be part of the Golden Horseshoe show. What a ham!
--the girls loving to find the characters and get their autographs--even Ruby wasn't too scared of any of them
--I may or may not have fallen one morning as we walked to Disneyland. My knee still hurts if I kneel on it the wrong way.
--my parents rented scooters for themselves--the kids took turns (and sometimes more than one at once) riding on laps. It actually was pretty handy as I was holding Ezra as he slept or ate on the go.


The crowds weren't too terrible, but we have been there when it was less crowded--like in the beginning of November and December. The weather was PERFECT though. A couple of the days were overcast which was so nice not having the sun beating down on us.

Ezra

Ezra is now six months old! Time flies. He is adorable and so sweet and fun. He gets a ton of attention from his sisters. At his six month appointment, he was 27.5" long and 15.1 lbs. He's packed on some pounds since he four month visit which is good since he was pretty scrawny. He is on formula now, so I think that helps. He's rolling all around and sits up pretty well. Our offical family photographer (Eliza) makes sure she documents our life through pictures...

(how'd that one get in there?!)

Youth Conference

A couple of weeks ago was our stake youth conference up at NAU. It was a TON of work leading up to it since it was the stake young men and young women's presidency who planned it and carried it out. There were many nights without much sleep getting everything ready, but I think it ended up being a success. One of the best parts was having Alex Boye come and do a concert one night and then a fireside the following morning. He was such a fun performer! Everyone loved him. He sang "Peponi", which was amazing! He also sang "The Churchball Anthem," which I was happy he did because it's so funny.

His accompanist came with him and come to find out, he served his mission in Phoenix. I remember him having come over for dinner and spending time at our house. We reminisced about that a bit and tried to catch him up on some people he remembered. The next morning Alex did a fireside with speaking and singing. He basically told his conversion story which was really incredible. He sang a neat song called "I'll Believe in Him," but perhaps the highlight was him singing "How Great Thou Art." It was the most powerful, touching performance of that song I've heard. We just had our wrap-up evaluation meeting for the conference early this morning before church, so I'm glad it went well, but also glad to have a break from all that work!